The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-06-25
A PERJURED FIREPLACE.
Telling Story and Getting Things
Mixed.

The sound of the wind bowling dis
mally without came from the open fire.
place of the parlor of cozy suburban
cottage one evening recently. The
proprietor of the cottage, with his wife
and an elderly guest, had been sitting
near the fireplace for some moments
listening to the wailings of such por-
tions of the blast as had been caught in
the chimney.
1.-The fireplace is trying to tell us
something" remarked the wife, who
was of a poetic turn of mind.
Nonsense" exclaimed her husband,
''fire-places never say any thing, at
least not to sensible persons"
"And yet" said the guest, "a tell
tale fireplace once told me that muir
der had been committed, and pointed
out a man which it accused of having
committed the murder"
The host expressed himself as quite
ready to be convinced that fire-places
did talk, and urged his guest to relate
the murder story which had come from
the mouth of fireplace.
"When was young man" said the
guest, 81 occupied at one time fur
nished room in large, old-fashioned
house near East Broadway. My room
was the third floor, back. The most
striking feature about it was an old
fashioned fireplace of ample dimen-
sions. By means of this fireplace l
could frequently hear what was said in
the rooms both above and below mine;
but it was very difficult for me to dis
tinguish whether a sound which | heard
in the fireplace came from the room
above or the one below mine. When l
first took the room, a quarrelsome
couple had the room below, while the
one above was occupied by very jolly
couple. Sometimes / would sit in front
of my fireplace and listen to the quar-
reling from below and the laughter
from above, which would become
strangely mixed. Many of the colo
quies formed by the mingling of the
remarks which came through my fire
place from the rooms above and
below mine were very amusing.
Zone day learned that the quarrel
some couple had moved to some other
portion of the town. A few days after
ward their room was taken by tall,
dark, French-looking man named Le-
clair and his wife, a delicate woman,
who appeared to be fading. During
the following week the jolly couple
went away, and their room was taken
by handsome woman who wore black.
There was something sad about her
face, which suggested that she had
history. All that l could learn from
my landlady, woman who attended
strictly to her own business, was that
the ledger above me was q Mrs. Win
ter.
Zone evening as l was going up to
my room, | saw Leclair standing in
the hall outside his door and talking
very earnestly to Mrs. Winter, who
seemed to be regarding him with look
of strong sympathy. During the next
few weeks | saw Leclair and Mrs. Win
ter together in the hall several times.
He was very earnest each time, while
she was evidently sympathetic. One
evening as l passed Lcclair's door it
suddenly opened and 1 saw Mrs. Lee
clair looking out with strange ex-
preston on her countenance. When
she saw me she looked frightened and
hurriedly closed the door. l had be-
gun to suspect that Leclair and Mrs.
Winter were lovers. Perhaps Mrs. Lee
clair had the same suspicion and had
opened the door in the expectation of
finding Mrs. Winter and her husband
together. The more thought of the
matter the more l became convinced
that there was some mystery con-
nected with my fellow dodgers.
Zone Saturday evening when Iretired
found it impossible to sleep. After
tossing about for several hours got up
and sat IL my easy chair, which hap
pcncd to be just in front of the fire.
place. My thoughts ran on the Leclairs
and Mrs. Winter. | heard the clock in
q distant church tower strike three,
and then fell into doze. 1t seemed
to me that was sitting in large room.
Before me stood Leclair and Mrs.
Winter. Her lips moved and she
seemed to DO reproducing him, but l